Local Author & Businesswoman Dana Bakker to Speak

On Wednesday, May 11, Napa Valley Writers is excited to present Dona Bakker. A Napa Valley memoirist, editor, self-publisher and businesswoman, Bakker is a passionate believer that the stories of “lives well lived” deserve to be remembered and shared and she is devoted to helping people capture the stories of their lives.

She is the author of two memoirs, The Run of the Mill – A True Life, Napa Valley, about her childhood at play at the Bale Mill, in St. Helena, and Adventure and Writing and Self Publishing – One Author’s Journey. An expert collaborator, she wrote a chronicle of St. Helena High School’s “golden years” for educator Ralph M. Ingols, and co-wrote two novels, The Golden Road and the Golden Road Detour, with Tami Riedeman. She is proud of the memoir she helped bring into being, The Incredible Life of Chicki Downs, available on www.napavalleypastime.com.

At the meeting, Bakker will talk about her experiences as a writer, self-publisher, editor and co-writer and will share inspiration and tips from what she has learned about eliciting stories from others who need help getting their ideas on paper.

NVW member David Kerns, retired pediatrician, former Stanford medical professor and writer, explores the world of corporate medicine in his novel 2007 Standard of Care and the world of local music in his weekly column Live in the Valley. He will read from his new novel, Fortnight on Maxwell Street, a hero's journey set in the slum tenements of inner-city Chicago in the days immediately preceding and following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Napa Valley Writers, a branch of California Writers Clubs, holds meetings 7-9 pm in our new location at Napa Valley Unitarian Universalists Church Sanctuary, 1625 Salvador Avenue, Napa. Cost at the door: $10 guests; $7, CWC members; Students with ID, free. For more information, contact publicity.nvw@gmail.com or see napavalleywriters.net. We welcome the public.